Grinding-mill.



F. D. GIDDINGS.

GRINDING MILL.

APPLICATION FILED 11113.28, 1914.

1 131 231 Patented Mar.9,1915.

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WITNESSES: 2 INVENTOR.

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THE NORRIS PETERS (70 F'HOTO-LITHCL. \VASHINGrON. D (i INVENTOR.

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F. D. GIDDINGS. GRINDING MILL.

Patented Mar. 9, 1915.

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APPLIOATLON FILED MAR. 28, I914.

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FRANK D. GIDDINGS, 0F FORT COLLINS, COLORADO.

GRINDING-MILL.

Application filed March 28, 191 1 To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANK D. GIDDINGS, a citizen of the United States, residing at Fort Collins, in the county of Larimer and State of Colorado, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Grinding- Mills, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to improvements in grinding mills and more particularly to machines of the character shown and described in my application for Patent No. 733,8l6, filed November 27, 1912, and designed for grinding alfalfa and other similar products to a meal suitable for animal fodder.

It is the primary object of the present invention to provide simple and effective cooperative means for feeding material supplied to the machine into a concave in which it is ground by the action of a rotary grinding element, it being observed that the said means while differing in details of construction from the equivalent parts shown and described in the before mentioned application for patent, are in principle and operation similar thereto.

In the accompanying drawings in the 7 various views of which like parts are similarly designated, Figure 1 represents a plan view of the improved grinding mill, Fig. 2, a side elevation of the same, Fig. 3, a longitudinal section taken along the line 33, Fig. 1, Fig. 4:, an enlarged transverse section taken along the hue 4 l, Fig. 8,

Fig. 5, an enlarged fragmentary plan view of the parts at one side of the mill by means of which the discharge end of the conveyer which carries the material to the concave, is yieldably suspended from the supporting frame of the machine, and, Flg. 6, a fragmentary section taken along the line 6-6, Fig. 1, showing the relative positions of the gears used in operating the feed rollers.

Referring to the drawings by numerical reference characters, 2 designates the supporting frame of the machine on which the several parts of the mill are assembled for cooperation, and 3 a grinding cylinder which is rotatably mounted in bearings at one end of the structure 2 within a cylindrical concave l which at one of its sides has a feed opening 5 to receive the material to be ground. The peripheral wall of the concave is for its greater part composed of per- Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar... 9, 1915. Serial No. 827,954.

forated plates 6 through which the ground material passes into a casing 7 which at 8 connects with a suction fan or the like.

The details of construction of the concave and the grinding element have been fully shown and described in an application for patent filed simultaneously with the present one and do not form part of the present invention, which as stated hereinbefore, relates specifically to the mechanism by which the material to be ground is fed into the concave. The principal element of this feeding mechanism is an endless belt conveyer 9 made of rubber or other suitable material and mounted at its ends upon drums l2 and 10 which are rotatably supported in bearings 011 the frame, respectively in adjacency to the feed opening of the'concave and at the end of the supporting structure opposite to that at which the grinding mill proper is disposed.

A hopper l3 erected on the frame has side walls which extend the entire length of the conveyer for the purpose of directing the material onto the upper surface thereof. The upper portion of the conveyer which moves in a substantially horizontal direction to carry the material fed into the hopper to the feed opening of the concave, is supported upon a number of idle rollers 14 disposed'between the side bars 15 of the supporting structure 2. The discharge portion of the conveyer adjacent the feed opening of the concave is yieldably suspended from the supporting structure for downward deflection to cooperate with a series of superposed rollers hereinafter to be described, for insuring a continuous and positive movement of the material carried on the endless belt into the concave. The bearings 16 in which the drum 12 at the discharge end of the conveyer is mounted, are to this end, fixed on a frame which is pivotally connected with the side bars of the supporting structure between which it is normally disposed. The pivoted frame consists of two parallel arms 18 connected by a transverse yoke 19 the outer portions of which extend divergently outwardly underneath the side bars 15 of the supporting frame 2. The arms which at one of their ends'are pivotally secured to the side bars, as at 17, carry at their opposite ends the boxes 16 which support the drum 12 and which project into the tubular end portion of the same, as shown in Figs. 4: and 5.

The yoke 19 which is seeured'to the parallel arms by means of angles 20, is provided at its outer ends withplates 21 which extend underneath the side bars 15 in parallel relation thereto for the application of two sets of coiled springs 22 by means of which the pivoted frame is suspended from the supporting structure of the machine. The yoke is furthermore provided with a pair of, forwardly extending plates 23 which at their outer ends are connected by a crossbar 24 to which is secured one of the longitudinal edges of a flexible apron 25, the opposite edge of which is'attached to the concave at the lower edge of its feed-opening to close the space between the latter and the conveyer and to provide a bag capable of receiving obstructive objects which are discharged from the concave in the operation of the mill. The upper edge of the cross-bar 24 engages the surface of the belt as it passes around the forward drum and thus serves as a scraper to remove adherent matter and insure the passage of every particle of the material carried on the belt into the concave.

The rollers hereinbefore referred to, three in number, are mounted for rotation about parallel axes above and in spaced relation to the upper surface of the belt conveyer at the forward downwardly deflective end por'- tion of the same. The foremost roller 26 is mounted adjacent the upper edge of the feed opening in the concave, which edge is determined by a transverse bar 27 which is formed to provide a shield along the forward side of the roller, and which at the lower end of said shield has a sharp edge to engage the peripheral surface of the face of the roller for the purpose of removing adherent matter. The rearmost roller 28 of the series which is of larger diameter than the other rollers, consists of a hollow cylinder which upon its circumferential surface has a number of equidistant longitudinally and radially projecting ribs which during rotation of the roller, engaging material carried on the upper surface of the belt-conveyer to impel it into the restricted space between the forward end of the latter and the foremost roller 26. The intermediate roller 29 which is auxiliary to the others and of smaller diameter, has upon its peripheral surface a number of longitudinally disposed, equidistant slats.

The several parts of the mill are driven by power applied to the shaft 30 of the rotary grinding element through the intermediary of a pulley 31. The elements of the feeding mechanism, namely, the endless belt conveyer and the series of rollers, are operated through the agency of a shaft 32 which is mounted in bearings beneath the side bars of the supporting structure and in transverse relation thereto. The shaft 32 is r0.

tated from the shaft of the grinding element at a greatly reduced rate of speed by means of a belt 33 placed around pulleys 34 and 35 on the said shafts. A belt tightener which engages the belt 33 at its under surface for the purpose of establishing or discontinuing the coactive connection between the two pulleys, consists of a roller 36 at the end of a pivoted arm 37 which may be adjusted by means of a hand lever 38 which is fulcrumed on a toothed segment 39. By these means, the operator of the machine is enabled to control the operation of the feeding mechanism without interference with the movement of the grinding element or with the connection of the same with the motive agent from which it is driven.

The shaft 32 imparts a rotary movement to the rearmost drum 10 of the conveyer belt for moving the latter in a forward direction, by means of a sprocket chain 40, and by the use of a similar chain 41 it imparts a rotary movement to a sprocket wheel 42 mounted on a stub-shaft 43 fixed at one side of the hopper 13. A pinion 44 which is connected with the sprocket wheel 42 to rotate in unison therewith, meshes with corresponding gear wheels 45 on the shafts of the rollers 29 and 26 to rotate the same simultaneously in one direction, and the rotary movement of the last-mentioned roller is transmitted to the rearmost roller 28 by means of a sprocket chain 46 around sprocket wheels fixed at the ends of their shafts at the opposite side of the machine.

The alfalfa hay fed into the hopper, is by the belt moving in the direction of the arrow A, carried forwardly until it is engaged by the ribs on the roller 28 which forcibly impel it into the space between the other two rollers of the series and the forward end of the belt, through which it is moved into the feed opening of the concave.

The hay while moving between the series of rollers and the downwardly yieldable end portion of the belt at the discharge end of the conveyer is partially reduced before it enters the concave, rocks, bolts, nuts or other obstructive objects are to a considerable extent, prevented from entering the feed opening, and the scrapers which respectively engage the circumferential surface of the forward roller and the surface of the belt as it passes around the drum, remove all adherent matter from said surfaces.

The cooperative actions of all the members hereinbefore described, insure the passage of all the material fed onto the belt, through the hopper, into the interior of the concave in which it is reduced to a meal by the action of the rotary grinding element. The meal discharged through the perforated wall of the concave into the casing 7 at the forward end of the machine is subsequently removed to a sacking appliance or suitable depository by means of a suction fan connected with the outlet 8.

Having thus described my invention what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent is:

1. In a grinding mill, an endless belt-conveyer yieldingly mounted at its dischargeend for downward deflection, a rotary roller disposed above the said end of the conveyer to form a restricted passage for material carried thereon, a rotary device mounted rearward of said roller and having peripheral projections for impelling said material toward said passage, and an auxiliary rotary member mounted between the said roller and the said device.

2. In a grinding mill, an endless belt-conveyer, a rotary roller disposed above the discharge end of the conveyer to form a restricted passage for material carried thereon, a rotary device mounted rearward of said roller and having peripheral projections for impelling said material toward said passage, and an auxiliary rotary member mounted between said roller and said device.

3. In a grinding mill, an endless belt conveyer, a rotary roller disposed above the discharge end of the conveyer to form a restricted passage for material carried thereon, a rotary device mounted rearward of said roller and having peripheral projections for impelling said material toward said passage, and an auxiliary rotary member mounted between said roller and said device and having peripheral projections to engage the material.

4. In a grinding mill, a concave having a feed-opening, an endless belt-conveyer for carrying material to said opening, its discharge end being yieldingly mounted for downward deflection, means above the said discharge end of the conveyer for engaging material carried thereon, and a flexible apron between the said discharge end of the conveyer and the lower edge of the said opening.

5. In a grinding mill, a concave having a feed-opening, an endless belt-conveyer for carrying material to said opening, its discharge-end being yieldingly mounted for downward deflection, means above the said discharge end of the conveyer for engaging material carried thereon, a scraper for removing adherent matter from the surface of the conveyer at its discharge-end, and a flexible apron between said scraper and the lower edge of'said opening.

6. In a grinding mill, a supporting structure, a concave having a feed opening, a conveyer for carrying material to said opening, including an endless belt, a frame yieldingly suspended from said structure, a drum which supports said belt at the discharge end of the conveyer, rotatably mounted on said frame, means above said discharge-end of the conveyer for engaging material carried on said belt, and a flexible apron extending between the discharge-end of the conveyer and the lower edge of said feed opening, in connection with said frame.

In a grinding mill, a supporting structure, a concave having a feed opening, a conveyer for carrying material to said opening, including an endless belt, a frame yieldingly suspended from said structure, a drum which supports said belt at the discharge end of the conveyer, rotatably mounted on said frame, means above said discharge-end of the conveyer for engaging material carried on said belt, a scraper for removing adherent matter from the surface of the said belt at the discharge end of the conveyer, connected with said frame, and a flexible apron between said scraper and the lower edge of said feed-opening.

8. In a grinding mill, a concave having a feed-opening, an endless belt-conveyer for carrying material to said feed opening, a roller above the discharge-end of the conveyer to impellently engage material carried thereon, and members closing the spaces be tween the surfaces of the roller and the conveyer at its discharge end, and the upper and lower edges of the said feed-opening.

9. In a grinding mill, a concave having a feed-opening, an endless belt-conveyer for carrying material to said feed-opening, a roller above the discharge-end of the conveyer to impellently engage material carried thereon, and members closing the spaces between the surfaces of the roller and the conveyer at its discharge end, and the upper and lower edges of the said feed-opening and including scrapers for removing adherent matter from said surfaces.

In testimony whereof I have aflixed my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANK D. GIDDINGS.

Witnesses:

L. RHoDn-s, G. J. ROLLANDET.

flopies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Eatents,

Washington, I). C. 

